《Short Recap》

"Well, a couple of guests I invited were very impressed. So if you three are keen on commercializing your product, you can meet me in my office tomorrow and we can talk about it." The balding professor said before moving away to greet another team.

The moment he was out of earshot, the three of us turned to face each other with impish grins.

I almost imploded with joy then and the feeling took me to a high that would take some time die down.

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Shifting my weight off my frozen feet and stretched them slowly, I massaged my calves with my clammy fingers using a gentle pressure.

I pushed the web camera of my laptop away from me and listened silently as the boys tried to bite each other's head during our video call.

Wriggling my toes from side to side, I admired my clean neatly cut toenails for a moment as they droned on without end.

Neel and Harsh were arguing in a rather impassioned manner about the pros and cons of venture funds provided by the government for promoting startup culture in the country.

We'd dropped into Professor Murthy's office just like he'd asked and he'd helped us chart out a course plan to help us make our app marketable and attractive.

He'd even offered to call our alumni who had started TYCHE but nothing concrete had happened down that path and I was kind of relieved.

"We're going to need more liquid funds for research and development of the software and the government provides only a minimal amount to provide a reasonable push." Harsh said.

"Yes, but allowing the government to have some equity will bring down the pressure to perform and we'll be able to concentrate on the actual development aspect rather than clocking numbers right from the start." Neel countered heatedly, "Relying entirely on a bunch of angel investors is going to be stressful. We still have two and a half years of college to fucking cope with Harsh!"

"I know that," Harsh replied in a rehearsed calm voice, his jaw clenching as he fought to maintain his composure, "You just don't want to put in any extra work. You prefer the easy way out, Neel."

Oh sweet heavens! Did he seriously have to go there?

"That's a load of bullshit and you fucking know that, so you can go and shove up your ass." Neel fumed.

"Ok boys, I think that's enough." I cut in, the camera still tilted away so they could only see half of the ceiling fan.

"But Akira," Neel began, his tone still raised but a couple of octaves lower than it had been a few moments ago.

"Shut up Neel!" I rolled my eyes, "It's your bruised ego talking here."

I caught Harsh bite back a triumphant smile as I chided Neel.

"And Harsh you have no right to talk to him like that. This isn't your company alone so any decision that needs to be taken shall be taken by all of us after weighing the pros and cons." I snapped at him in an annoyed voice and he instantly closed his mouth, "That's it I guess. We'll continue this meeting day after tomorrow when both of you have your testosterone under control."

I pressed the Leave button of the video call and pushed my laptop screen halfway down before leaning back in my chair and expelling a big yawn as I stretched my arms.

Needless to say, the last two weeks had been absolutely chaotic. Starting a company wasn't as simple as I expected it to be. No less than a million certificates had to be signed, we had to get a valid PAN from the government and despite the relative ease for setting up a startup compared to a large business, it was stressful.

By the end of the first ten days my mind was shot and I realised I'd done little else than scurrying around the city to meet up with investors or catching up on homework.

Except a couple of texts, I hadn't even had time to talk to Vinay.

He'd been rather understanding about the entire situation though, going out of his way to help me and didn't bother me about working with Harsh except a couple of putrid glances towards him now and then.

Vinay got me breakfast everyday so I could catch up on my sleep after my late nights instead of cooking and he'd pick me up and drop me to the apartment so I didn't die of exhaustion walking to and from home.

Pushing back my chair, I got up and made my way to my closet. I retrieved Vinay's maroon hoodie that sat neatly folded one side, the one he'd brought for me to change into after Mrs. Pinto's accident.

Pulling the extraordinarily soft and warm fabric over my head, I inhaled deeply with a satisfied smile. Vinay's usual scent of washing powder mixed with that of old pages still lingered faintly.

I really missed talking to him endlessly. He was honestly a great listener when he wanted to be and it was one of the things I really loved about him.

I glanced at my watch briefly before making my way to the kitchen to cook myself dinner. It was late. Almost a quarter past ten but there wasn't much I could do about it. My life had pretty much been all over the place lately and I could only hope I'd fall back to my comfortable practiced routine.

Just as I set a steaming plate of steamed fillets soaked in milk on the table, the ringing of my phone in my bedroom interrupted my already late meal. Stuffing a large bite of the millet porridge into my mouth, I scurried towards my bedroom.

Vinay's name flashed on the caller ID.

My lips curled into a smile of their own accord as I received the call and pressed the phone against my ear, turning to go back to my millet bowl.

"Hi, What's up?" I greeted cheerfully, "I was just about to start eating my dinner."

A heard some shuffling from his side of the line before he spoke in a raspier voice than usual.

"Fuck ok, you must be tired." Vinay said, "It's fine, I just wanted to talk to you but I guess we can do that tomorrow. Sleep well, ok. Good night."

I frowned to myself.

"Wait, tell me what's wrong." I prodded.

"What makes you think something's wrong?" he chuckled but it sounded forced.

I felt like his voice sounded a little distant.

Then I heard the faint gurgling of a liquid in the background and narrowed my eyes. He was drinking.

"Tell me where you are." I replied in a firm tone, "I'm coming right now."

"Wait what?" he slurred a little, "I mean why? I'm perfectly all right."

"I can tell clearly." I scoffed, rolling my eyes, "Now, the address?"

A drawn out sigh sounded through the phone line.

"The roof of your old house." Vinay mumbled.

If it had been any other time I'd probably have taken a moment to question his odd choice of a place for getting away but at that moment I couldn't care less.

I cut the call abruptly and grabbed my bunch of keys from the bowl next to the door. I looked down to check my attire- yoga pants and a hoodie. It looked decent enough to step out in so quickly rushed out of the door, shoving my phone into the belly pocket of the hoodie as I descended the staircase of my apartment building two steps at a time.

By the time I made it to the main gate, I was panting. The normally absent watchman sat solemnly in his tiny cabin, eyeing me curiously because it was probably the first time he actually saw me in my six month stay in the building.

Ignoring him, I stepped outside and hailed an auto rickshaw.

"Madam, it's after ten so the rate will be double." He started in broken Hindi before I could even tell him the address.

"Do I look like I care?" I scowled at him, "Please just start driving."

The rickshaw driver looked slightly rattled, expecting me to protest about the exorbitant rate he'd put forth but he shrugged and started driving.

Rolling my eyes, I reached forward to start the meter myself and glared at him through the rear-view mirror before he could protest.

As soon as we reached, I scanned the UPI payment QR code with my phone and quickly transferred the money into his account. The code had probably remained unused since the very first day he'd pasted it next to his meter, judging from his baffled expression as he stared at the notification on his shiny new smartphone.

Pushing the rusting iron gate open, I entered the driveway of my old house. A sense of deja vu hit me as I jogged down the leaf ridden driveway and made my way to the back where the steel ladder led to the roof.

Gripping it tightly, I hauled my weight up the ladder as fast as I could and reached the top to find Vinay sitting on the opposite edge. A tree stood conveniently a little distance in front of him, shielding him from the eyes of prying neighbours and his legs dangled precariously over the edge.

He strained his neck to look behind when he heard the soft pitter-patter of my approaching footsteps and flashed me a lazy smirk.

"You shouldn't have come, Akira." He drawled, cradling an Old Monk in his left hand, "You must be tired and you shouldn't be wasting your time listening to me brood."

"Wasting time?" I said in disbelief, sounding far more condescending than I intended to, "Nothing about being there for you is a waste of time for me."

I sat down wordlessly next to him so my feet rested against the flat concrete of the roof and I could see Vinay's face.

"Well, it fucking will be after some time." He laughed listlessly, taking a small swig of the vile liquid he was treating like divine ambrosia, "I'm a bloody fuck-up and it's starting to be tiresome being myself. Maybe I should suck it up and pretend to be the person fucking wants me to be rather than fighting for who I want to be."

My lips bent into a frown as my mind clouded over with confusion.

"I this because I haven't been able to spend much time with you for the last few days?" I asked, "Don't worry, it's not going to last..."

"I may be pathetic Akira, but I'm far from stooping to that level," he said, his tone laced with scorn, "I don't need your bright and wonderful presence around me constantly for self validation."

I bit back an insult. He was allowed to vent and I wanted to get to the root of the problem rather than arguing fruitlessly.

I placed a light hand on his strained biceps and asked softly, "Vinay you're scaring me. Can you please tell me what's wrong?"

Drawing in a ragged breath he swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing visibly, "I am not going to either Cornell or UPenn."

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Shite, I'd be devastated if that happened to me now! I wonder what the reason is though...

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QOTD: Any idea who's going to win? Trump or Biden, coz the suspense is literally killing me!